"Owning Up provides a structured program for teaching students to own up and take responsibility-as perpetrators, bystanders, and targets-for unethical behavior. The curriculum is designed for adolescent groups (Grades 6-9) in schools and other settings and can be used in co-educational groups as well as with girls and boys separately. Owning Up presents a unique and comprehensive approach to preventing youth violence by targeting the root causes of bullying and other forms of social cruelty. It exposes the cultural expectations that teach young people to humiliate and dehumanize others as the way to achieve power and respect, then challenges them to transform this dynamic. The program also addresses the nuanced ways in which racism, classism, and homophobia are expressed in our culture and affect social cruelty and violence. Sessions combine group discussions, games, role-playing, and other activities to engage students in understanding the complexities of adolescent social culture. Students learn to recognize that they have a responsibility to treat themselves and others with dignity and to speak out against social cruelty and injustice"-- Provided by publisher.